


The Picture of Steven Pink

by citrusella



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: (i skipped eyeball because it'd be lapis all over again but scarier), Broken Bones, Corruption, Cracked Gems, Gen, Healing, Injury, Resurrection, and basically no revision, the premise feels cracky but I'm not sure I'd call this crack, written directly on ao3 (as opposed to in a word processor like I normally do)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-07
Updated: 2017-06-07
Packaged: 2018-11-10 01:46:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 550
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11117310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/citrusella/pseuds/citrusella
Summary: It took a lot out of him.





	The Picture of Steven Pink

**Author's Note:**

> i blame discord

First had been Connie.

"What am I going to tell my parents? What am I going to tell my optometrist?!"

"I don't even know!" had been his response.

And that was his response when he awoke a few days later to an alarm clock he couldn't read, a room shrouded in a blur like a badly focused camera.

He told no one.

* * *

Next had been Lapis.

...Maybe Connie had been a fluke. Yeah.

He willed that thought through his brain as he licked his hand, as he placed it on the blue cracked gem, as she flew away, as he returned to the ground.

He willed it through his brain as he returned home, as he went to sleep.

He willed it the next day, as the unthinkable happened.

He told no one, but Garnet already knew. Thank the stars the fountain worked, at least this time.

They told no one.

* * *

Then his dad.

He knew by now that he should probably expect to... he shuddered imagining the pain of what Dad was going through.

But he couldn't just leave his dad like that!

And so he healed him.

One day passed. Two. Four. Too many to count. He figured he'd dodged the bullet.

It wasn't until his next mission against a corrupted gem that he realized how wrong he was.

It was Pearl who took him to the fountain this time, the water working its wonders on his brittle, broken bones.

She told no one.

But that probably wouldn't last.

* * *

MC Bear Bear and Centi were... anticipated but unexpected.

He healed the stuffed animal on accident, half-expecting something silly to happen like his shirt ripping.

Centi... Centi was more purposeful, and the prospects of what that meant scared him.

He was taken aback by his shoulder dislocating later that night, but for some reason he wasn't surprised, nor was he surprised when he felt the repeating rondo of an ancient aria trying its hardest to drive his mind apart.

He blinked it back as he worked to help Centi get to her crew before...

His healing reverted... but... but...

The song stayed. He may not have visibly corrupted, but from Garnet's description, that definitely felt like what was happening to him.

He... he...

It didn't matter, because they already knew.

* * *

Finality came in the form of Lars.

No... no! He hadn't even been trying! He...

He bit his tongue, supressing the idea that he would have left Lars for dead if he had known he had this power.

Accepting the fact he'd die when he had no idea when it would happen and the people around him had no idea _that_ it would happen was a tall order on such short notice.

But he managed. Maybe he didn't accept it. But he made sure not to give Lars or the Off Colors a reason to worry.

"You brought me back to life. Just let me be somebody who deserved it."

_Somebody who deserved it._ If only Lars knew.

His tears flowed freely as he entered Lars' head, as he waded through the magical dimension, as he arrived to his still-empty house. Would he even get to say goodbye?

I'll be back, he'd said. I'll tell everyone you're okay, he'd said.

He told no one.

He never got the chance.

**Author's Note:**

> But no seriously this was borne from a Discord chat where Steven taking on the effects of whatever he healed out of someone else was suggested. Blame [FourFaces](http://archiveofourown.org/users/FourFaces) for the most part. (Also [TheMarkovProperty](http://archiveofourown.org/users/TheMarkovProperty) for a tiny bit in the last part. :P)
> 
> Other considered titles for this work: Conservation, [something that rhymes with stock and has to do with injuries] Exchange, ~~Steven's Secret Death Career~~


End file.
